Wednesday, 29 May 2019

WannaCry one of the most damaging cyberattack of 2017—continues effectively unabated, with at least 3,500 successful attacks per hour, globally, according to research published by security firm Armis on Wednesday. The research estimates that 145,000 devices worldwide continue to be infected, noting that "a single WannaCry infected device can be used by hackers to breach your entire network."

The primary reason WannaCry persists is an abundance of unpatched Windows versions across healthcare, manufacturing, and retail sectors - typically finding a "large number of older or unmanaged devices which are difficult to patch due to operational complexities," Ben Seri, research vice president at Armis, wrote in a blog post. The number of active Windows 7 (and older) installations across those sectors exceeds 60%, compared to less than 30% among technology companies, the research found.

TerraCycle offers a range of free programmes that are funded by conscientious companies, as well as recycling solutions available for purchase for almost every form of waste.

TerraCycle offers free recycling programmes funded by brands, manufacturers, and retailers around the world to help you collect and recycle your hard-to-recycle waste. Simply choose the programs you’d like to join; start collecting in your home, school, or office; download free shipping labels; and send us your waste to be recycled. You can even earn rewards for your school or favourite non-profit!

TerraCycle is Eliminating the Idea of Waste® by recycling the "non-recyclable." Whether it's coffee capsules from your home, pens from a school, or plastic gloves from a manufacturing facility, TerraCycle can collect and recycle almost any form of waste. We partner with individual collectors such as yourself, as well as major consumer product companies, retailers, manufacturers, municipalities, and small businesses across 20 different countries. With your help, we are able to divert millions of pounds of waste from landfills and incinerators each month.

Have a look at their website & see how you can help to recycle the "non-recyclable".

Microsoft has begun the rollout of the next major feature update to Windows 10, the May 2019 Update. The upgrade, also known as version 1903, offers a variety of new features and tweaks aimed at home users and businesses.

Key additions include a simplified Start menu layout, a streamlined search option, the virtual assistant Cortana being spun off from Search, and new sign-in options for Windows Hello. Meanwhile, Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise and Education users get a simple way to test programs in an isolated virtual environment using Windows Sandbox.

Tuesday, 14 May 2019

Fifty years ago, British bikers got their first look of the machine that would change motorcycling forever. On April 5, 1969 at the Metropole Hotel, venue for the Brighton Motorcycle show, two pre-production examples of the all-new Honda CB750 were displayed for the very first time.

As the first mass-production motorcycle with not just four cylinders but also a disc brake and electric starter, the CB750 set the new standard for sophistication. It was, in fact, the first ‘superbike’. A new word had entered our lexicon.

The kind chaps at Crescent have loaned my one of my favourite bikes while mine is in the shop: a CB1000R+. What's the "+" then? A few bits of bling (meh), and far more importantly: an Akrapovic zorst & up & down quickshifter! This is a truly great bike: well designed & built, powerful, fast, fun & nimble. A really rewarding ride, but being naked keeps one sensible(ish) ;0).

Monday, 13 May 2019

Police Constable Edwin Sutton has been found to have not breached the standard of professional behaviour when he ended a moped chase with a ‘tactical contact’. PC Sutton was called before a gross misconduct hearing at the Independent Office for Police Conduct after the incident on May 21, 2017.

It was alleged that Sutton had breached the police standards of behaviour for the use of force when he manoeuvred his vehicle into the path of a moped being driven by a 17 year old male suspect. However the hearing on May 8, chaired by Catherine Elliot, found this was not the case.

After reviewing the evidence, the panel found that the manoeuvre executed by Sutton was for a legitimate policing purpose and that he had few, if any, alternatives for ending the pursuit quickly and safely.

With the FIDO2 certification of Windows Hello, Microsoft is putting the 800 million people who use Windows 10 one step closer to a world without passwords.

No one likes passwords (except hackers). People don’t like passwords because we have to remember them. As a result, we often create passwords that are easy to guess—which makes them the first target for hackers trying to access your computer or network at work.

Since 2015, Microsoft has been building a path to a secure and passwordless world with Windows Hello, enabling Windows 10 users everywhere to sign in to their devices using biometrics or a PIN and leave the world of passwords behind. Continuing this momentum, Microsoft announced in November of 2018 the ability to use Windows Hello or a FIDO2 security key to securely sign in to your Microsoft account on the web, without a password!

Today, the FIDO Alliance announced that, with the upcoming release of Windows 10, version 1903, Windows Hello is a FIDO2 Certified authenticator. FIDO2 enables developers to leverage standards-based protocols and devices to provide users easy authentication to online services—in both mobile and desktop environments. Microsoft is a leading member of the FIDO Alliance and is working closely with alliance members to enable passwordless login for websites supporting FIDO2 authentication. Collectively, these standards enable users to more easily and securely login to online services with FIDO2-compliant security keys and Windows Hello.

Saturday, 11 May 2019

More and more of us are expressing our values through our everyday shopping. We increasingly demand more information about what goes into our food and other purchases, where they come from and how they are made.

Brands are responding with a bewildering range of labels and claims from organic to vegan, from ‘sustainably sourced’ to ‘cruelty free’, on everything from ice cream to hand cream.

World Fair Trade Day is a good time to look at which ethical and sustainability considerations are most important for consumers. What do shoppers want to know? Are they influenced by companies’ sustainability claims, or do they need to see that brands are actually ‘walking the talk’? And as consumers ourselves, do our choices really make a difference?

Click HERE to find out more about Fair Trade - and how you could make a real difference to impoverished food producers around the world.

Tuesday, 7 May 2019

Development of Windows 10 is a continuous process—while previous versions of Windows received service packs or point releases that served primarily as rollups of Windows Update security patches, Windows 10 receives feature updates on an approximately six month cadence. These updates bring significant user-facing changes, as well as changes to enterprise features.